UFC 130 Recap: Rampage, Hamill and Roy Nelson’s Belly

A packed MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada witnessed an action packed card featuring the UFC’s elite Light-Heavyweights. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson wanted to show the world that he is still one of the most devastating power punchers in the game. Matt Hamill is one of the promotion’s best wrestling and a win would boost his stock to the next level. With possibly title shots on the line, this fight is a suitable replacement for the former main event between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar for the Lightweight strap.

The story of this fight of was plain and simple. Matt Hamill had no answers for Rampage Jackson. Every single takedown attempt we witnessed was stuffed and when Hamill tried to trade strikes he was purely outclassed. As talented as Hamill has been in his last few fights, Rampage looked like he was in a different level of fighting altogether.

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Jackson was fast, strong, aggressive, and his takedown defense never looked better. Will this win bring Rampage back to title contention? What is next in the career of the hammer?

Notes from UFC 130:

-I think Roy Nelson needs to lose the belly and drop to 205 now.

Stefan Struve has a very bright future ahead of him still in his young career, but KO losses again Travis Browne. Where does Browne go from here?

-When Thiago Alves goes back to ATT it’s back to the drawing board in the wrestling department. However, his striking is as fast and powerful as ever. It looked good against Rick “The Horror” Story.

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-Big props to “The Marine” Brian Stann for his 2nd round TKO victory against the former Sengoku Middleweight champion Jorge Santiago.

Lowkick.com UFC 130 Main Card Awards:

Performance of the night – Frank Mir is back better than ever and looked awesome against Roy Nelson. His striking now fast and crisp for MMA standards combined with his BJJ black belt will make him a threat once again in the World Heavyweight title picture.

Fight of The Night – All fights in the main card were pretty lopped sided but my pick for the evening was Frank Mir‘s domination against Roy Nelson.

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Disappointment of the Night – Jorge Santiago was returning to the UFC with a lot of hype. He didn’t live up to any of it and I don’t know who’ll be next for him.

Did you enjoy UFC 130? What did you think of the evening’s event? Leave your two cents in the comment.

Photo: Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Cagewriter